Oliver's Twist

I have to warn you - I am a reader, not a writer. When I write, I get bored! So I usually have pity on fellow-readers by not inflicting them with my writing.

Now that you are sufficiently warned:

First stop: Jackson, Mississippi. I dumped the dog (not as easy as it sounds...sob!), tied up all my loose ends and packed my duds. We leave for Jackson after lunch.

I am a little worried because we removed the back seat in the van, where I usually sit. Hummm. Naw! They wouldn't leave me! I have a ticket!

by A. A. Neale

There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel -- that will stand.

Prov. 19:21 NKJV

Forming a purpose and making plans are human activities that reflect the divine image, with one obvious difference: The Lord always performs that which he purposes. The weeping prophet wrote of God's punishment of the cruel Babylonian empire, "For the Lord has both devised and done what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon" (Jer. 51:12).

Truly, only the Lord can say with all assurance,

    I have purposed it;     I will also do it.             Isa. 46:11c

You and I, frail humans that we are, must always preface our purposeful plans with a "If the Lord wills" (Jas. 4:15).

When God speaks, it's as good as done (Isa. 55:11). Man's pronouncements are contingent -- he may or may not do as he proposes.

Jesus' final cry at the cross was, "It is finished." That's why he is God's Yes. "... in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" (2 Cor. 1:19,20).

So God is faithful, because he does what he sets out to do. His promises are sure, for he has never failed to fulfil a single one, nor will he ever fail.

Some have suggested that the Almighty just might invoke divine prerrogative to do things differently on the Last Day than what he has said he will do. These vain imaginings forget the infallible purpose of God!

• When God declares that he will save only the obedient who is immersed in order to receive forgiveness of sins, that will stand (Acts 2:38,39).
• The Lord in his purpose has provided strength to overcome temptation, and that will stand (1 Cor. 10:13).
• The Savior will use his church (and not human divisions and denominations) to proclaim the saving truth, and that will stand (Eph. 3:10,11).
• The called according to God's purpose will discover that all things, barring none, will work together for good in their lives, because the Lord is doing it, and that, too, will stand (Rom. 8:28-31).

He will do it.

by J. Randal Matheny

It is that the process is more important than the end result. It is what you learn while you're dreaming or scheming or working toward a goal that is essential and valuable, not the achievement of the goal itself. (Arthur C. Clarke & Gentry Lee, Cradle: A Novel [New York, NY: Warner Books, 1988], p. 407)

Though popular, the sentiment conflicts with divine teaching because of certain assumptions it contains.

First, process-over-results thinking emphasizes the here-and-now. It's the old philosophy of eat, drink, and be merry. We know where that got the rich man; besides the title of "rich fool," he lost it all in one whack, both goods and soul. It's new clothes for the old hedonism. Enjoy the journey! Don't worry so much about getting to wherever it is you're going.

So the here-and-now undercuts the HOPE of future joy.

What a contrast to the Good News of eternal destination! Time and place are merely the proving grounds for celestial bliss and perfection. "... we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2 ESV). Why settle for admiring a rose that withers tomorrow when we can have the Son's perfection that lasts forever?!

Second, hidden deeply in the folds of the joys of riding over arriving is evolutionary meaningless. The beginning quote above comes from a science fiction novel which invents millions of evolved life forms and a superior race that would seed the earth with perfected human beings. Why all the interest, fictional and scientific, in postulating and searching for life in the universe? Perhaps to throw some meaningful rags over the naked futility of evolutionary theory.

For evolutionists, there is no meaning, no purpose to life. It's pointless, "no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."* History has no direction. There is nothing to believe in. So why not invent ETs who might have even started everything here on earth? Besides that, let's just go with what we can see right in front of us.

So the random process douses FAITH in the invisible, purposeful God.

Man stopped talking about "creation" and substituted "Nature." But all this had a starting point, and it will have an end point. God embued his creation with purpose and direction. Beginning, middle, and conclusion. Planet Earth will be destroyed, not by man's folly or through a universal fluke, but by divine timing and reason. From the degeneration of creation, God would pull from the flames as many as possible to save them.

His purpose is "set forth in Christ" (Eph. 1:9). Such a grand purpose is eternal (Eph. 3:11). All this was set in motion even before the material world was brought into existence (1 Pet. 1:19-20). Man's internal yearning for meaning finds its answer in the overarching plans of the Lord.

Third, the exhortations to stop and smell the roses have only goals that are humanly derived and human sized. There is no goal large enough to capture the imagination and call for the dedication of the entire being. That is why the process becomes more important than the end result, the journey more interesting than the destination.

So that means that LOVE is diminished to whatever catches the eye.

To a Christian, the one goal which overshadows all else is to know God through Christ, to experience fully his love and presence. All is done "to gain Christ ... that [we] may know him and the power of his resurrection ... that by any means possible [we] may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:8,10-11). The resurrection means we will not longer see through a glass darkly, but will know him as we are known, fully, free from earthly limitations.

You and I have the wonderful opportunity to get caught up in this divine goal, so much larger than ourselves, so much more wonderful than any project we could devise, beyond our imperfect moment and painful present.

In hope. By faith. For love.

There is nothing else but the goal itself.

*Quoted in "I Wish I Had a Belief System [Part I]," by Bert Thompson. See the various quotes in the article to this effect.

by Emmett Smith

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling (Psalms 46:1-3 ESV).

These words were not written by David. In fact, they were written some 200 to 300 years after David’s death, during Hezekiah’s reign. And there is remarkable agreement among various groups of scholars that they were written in celebration of God’s destruction of Sennacherib’s army.

Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, had already conquered the area around Jerusalem. Now he had turned his attention to Jerusalem itself. He sent Rabshakeh to brag to Jerusalem that the gods of the surrounding nations had not saved them, and that their God would not save them either. But after king Hezekiah prayed to the Lord about these boasts, God spared Jerusalem. He had decreed that Babylon, not Assyria, would conquer Jerusalem.

So during the night God struck down 185,000 of Sennacherib’s army, so that when people arose “early in the morning” they were all dead! God sent Sennacherib home in disgrace, and eventually two of his sons assassinated him, just as God had predicted through Isaiah.

God’s dominion over the nations is stated in Jeremiah as follows:

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it (Jeremiah 18:7-10 ESV).

And Paul reiterated this theme in Athens:

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place (Acts 17:26 ESV).

God has always controlled when and where any nation would exist. He has used believing and unbelieving nations as He saw fit. And He rules among the nations this very day!

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16 ESV).

By Michael E. Brooks

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6)

I have received two letters recently from friends in Nepal telling of the resumption of violence and the breakdown of peace talks in that troubled country. Newspapers report clashes between rebels and the army and several bombing incidents. Here in Bangladesh, just in the one city of Khulna near where I am staying, there have been 34 assassinations of political leaders and other prominent persons within the past 2 months. And of course we read of car bombs and other attacks in Iraq, suicide bombers in Israel, and other acts of violence worldwide every day. As I make plans to travel within and near these countries the issue of safety becomes pertinent.

This week marks the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington; those events Americans at least consider the most horrific of all such incidents. American rage launched the “War on Terrorism” that so far has lead to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet in those two years violence has increased, even as worldwide indignation and effort has been raised against it. Questions arise. Can we do nothing to achieve peace? Must the violent and rebellious win? Is the only answer to force, more force?

Jesus predicted the continuance of war and violence. It is not certain in this context that he is proclaiming these to be universal conditions that will never cease, but at least he affirms that some violence will happen in the future of this earth. Noting this does not suggest that we adopt a fatalistic resignation. It does not mean that there is nothing that can be done so we must merely accept it as inevitable. It does suggest a realistic approach however; not an idealistic “wishful thinking” kind of approach such as was taken during the “age of enlightenment” at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time Europeans and Americans believed that society had “outgrown” war; that it had become wise enough and technologically advanced enough that war would no longer occur. Subsequent events proved such hopes false.

I would suggest that the answer to terrorism and war is an individual approach. There is little that we can do to stamp out violence on a universal scale. Experience is proving that. We can however reach and teach our neighbors individually. We can seek to counter the motives and causes of violence through love and compassion, one person at a time. James says war happens when we have irresponsible or unmet desires (James 4:1-3). Every time one person is given new hope there is one less potential terrorist in this world. Each person who learns proper priorities and comes to realize that happiness is God’s gift, not something he must wrest from others becomes one who is less likely to resort to violence.

The birth of Jesus was proclaimed as God’s message of “peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 3:14). It is evident that this did not mean that war would cease, but rather that those who receive Jesus in faith can know peace. Peace as eternal security guaranteed by God’s forgiveness. Peace as hope based on Jesus’ promises. Peace as reconciliation with God through the blood of Christ. Neither terrorist, despot, or Satan himself can deny us that peace.

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28)